Round corner



'o. R. OWENS May 25, 1937.

ROUND CORNER Filed May 21, 1936 Patented May 25, 1937 TATES PATENTOFFICE Gardner & Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of IllinoisApplication May 21, 1936, Serial No. 80,929

1 Claim.

My present invention relates to a rounded corner of wood or similarmaterial, and to the process of making .it. Round corners are oftendesired in the art of wood-working, but their production,

5 if a bending operation is required, has been attended withconsiderable effort and expense and the results have not always beensatisfactory. By the improvements of this invention I am enabled toperform a bending operation with facil- 10 ity, and to complete theoperation with a great saving of time. The resulting round corner isample in strength, it retains its shape and appearance, and it isotherwise suitable for use in l trim, cabinets, furniture pieces ofvarious kinds,

etc.

The present improvements, and the method by which my invention iscarried out, may be understood readily from the description to followtaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing 2 wherein? Figure 1is a view in elevation looking toward the edge of a board afterreceiving in its body a cut preliminary to the bending operation;

Fig. 2; is a longitudinal section through the 25 board as it appearswhile under pressure during the bending operation in a form with a caulon one side and a cylindrical forming die on the other;

and

Fig. 3 is a view in perspective of the board after 30 the bendingoperation has been completed.

It should be noted at the outset that my invention is applicable toboards which are solid or laminated, with or without a facing of veneer.By way of illustration the drawing shows a lami- 35 nated board B madeup of a wide central ply a upon one side of which are arranged two othernarrow plies b and a, respectively. On its Opposite side the central plycarries another narrow ply d to which is adhered a veneer facing e. In alaminated board of this description, the several plies areinterconnected by a suitable adhesive, usually glue.

To prepare a board for bending according to my 45 invention, it is firstprovided with an elongated cut :0 extending for the depth of the bendand transversely through the board from one side thereof Well toward theopposite side so as to leave only a connecting web 5. For the major 50part of its length, i, e., in a direction longitudinally of the board,this cut is straight as at y, its two ends '2, however, being beveled toprovide shoulders or being curved concavely through arcs which may beconcentric with the rounded corner of the 55' board which is producedthrough a subsequent REISSUEil bending of its web portion. With alaminated board, as shown in Fig. 1, the depth of the cut may be suchthat the remaining web is merely the thickness of the veneer facing, orof the veneer and the adjacent ply, or of a part thereof, or of 5adjacent plies. As shown in Fig. 2, a reinforcing veneer strip 6, of oneor more plies, is next fitted within the board cut 3:. This strip mayextend through substantially 180 degrees when the board is bent througha 90 degree turn, as shown. This veneer strip which follows the bend ofthe web 5 and of the curvatures at its two ends, conforms also to thecurved contour of a forming die D here shown as a cylindrical tube. Atthe time the die is placed against the reinforcing veneer strip at oneside of the board, the latter is supported upon a receiving form Fhaving a seat provided by two angled surfaces g and h connected by acurved surface 2' wherein is fitted a caul C having two angled flanges7' and it connected by a curved section I. By moving the forming dietoward the seat thus provided in the receiving form, the board is bentalong its web portion through the angle which corresponds to the angledsurfaces 9 and h of the receiving form, viz., 90 degrees, as shown. Whenthis position is reached, the board is conformed to the angled caul Cfitted into the seat of the receiving form having a contour identicaltherewith, whereby there is furnished a hard surface for resisting thepressure imparted through the board by the forming die. The die, whichmay be heated, is cylindrical so that its axis will be concentric withthe two curved surfaces 2,

as indicated in Fig. 2.

The reinforcing veneer strip is adhered to the web and adjacent curvedportions by a suitable glue or other adhesive which is soft at the timethe forming die is operated. If the board be laminated or have an outerveneer facing, the connecting layers of adhesive may be softenedsomewhat by the heated die whereby to facilitate bending of the web. Inaddition, the heat imparted from the metal forming die will acceleratethe drying and setting of the glue or other adhesive which connects thereinforcing veneer strip to the inner surface of the bent corner. Aftera short space of time, perhaps five minutes, the forming die may safelybe removed whereupon the board, now bent through its intended arc, isready for removal 5 from the caul.

In practice, it will be found that a corner construction answering tothis description is strong and will retain its original bend with littleor no deformation. This results from utilizing a board of substantialthickness with a curved web that is relatively thin with beveled orconcave shoulders at its two ends, togetherwith a reinforcing stripadhered to the inside of the corner and exfor the depth of the bend,said cut-out section .extendlng into the body of the board to a pointjust short of its outer surface layer to provide a thin web portion ofsubstantially uniform thickness which extends along the board for adistance substantially equal to the length of the arc of the bend andterminating at its two ends in shoulders bevelled to the normal innersurface of the board, and a veneer strip bent to the curvature of theweb portion and adhered to the inner Surface thereof and to the faces ofthe bevelled shoulders to exert a tension for counterbalancing that orthe board, whereby to resist deformation of the round corner structure.ORVILLER. OWENS.

